Lemon-Dill Petite Pois Falafel with a Chargrilled Asparagus and Red Onion Salad

Well, hello Spring! I've missed you asparagus!! This has easily become my new favourite salad: chargrilled tender asparagus, soft sweet chargrilled red onions, avocado, mixed baby leaf with a simple drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar then topped with these fantastic spring fresh lemon dill petite pois falafel. Phew! This is definitely a main dish, knife and fork kind of salad....It's also what we are having for Easter dinner this very evening with a nice chilled glass of white wine :-) 

This salad also works beautifully as a filling and satisfying wrap...

Same ingredients as the salad but instead of the balsamic dressing I've added a crazy simple "cheats" garlic cream sauce. Hint: it's just vegan sour cream, garlic powder and a pinch of salt! Apologies - I did get photos of the wrap with the sauce but they all looked positively obscene, lol! Anyway, it's just a white cream sauce, nothing you need a photo of ;-) For the wrap I also fried up smaller falafel than I do for the salad then simply wrap it up in a warmed flour tortilla. It's gorgeous!

♥

The falafel themselves are wonderful, recipe is adapted from Cassie Best's recipe for Pea Falafel on BBC Good Food. Mine took a few attempts to get right, I was mostly having problems with texture. They were initially much too soft inside, almost like deep fried balls of houmous (actually, that doesn't sound too bad!) Not what I was after though of course. In the end I reduced the liquid by omitting the lemon juice, upped the dry ingredients by adding my vegan parmesan - which also adds wonderful flavour and making sure I only briefly pulsed the mixture. Over mix and you'll end up with houmous. 

The other aspect that made a big difference was the brand of chick peas I used. Apologies as this will only apply to those of you in Ireland or the UK but I used Tesco's own label tinned chickpeas here which are smaller and much more firm than most tinned chickpeas making them perfect in falafel. After all, traditional falafel is made by using dried chickpeas that have just been soaked then they are cooked from deep frying. I've always found that much too risky to attempt at home so these firm little cooked chickpeas are a god send! You can still use the larger, softer type chickpeas more common in tins, but do be careful not to overprocess....

~ Recipe Notes ~

• As you can tell from the length of this post, the recipe is rather involved. I recommend making the falafel batter the day before so it is ready to fry.

• I've used smoked sea salt throughout the recipe here as I feel it really adds to the chargrilled flavour of the asparagus and red onion but obviously you can use regular sea salt if that's all you have.

• I've had the salad both with the onions and asparagus warm and with them room temperature. Both are good but I definitely give the edge to having them warm. It's easier in that case to make them first and just give them a quick re-heat in a frying pan before assembling the salad.

• I didn't do it here in these photos but my Tamari Roasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds are an awesome addition to this salad! 

• .....and yes, if you don't fancy making the falafel, this salad is just as good without it :-) 

Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes

Now I know I just said on my side bar there that I am on summer holidays until September and that is still technically true but I've been wanting to get this recipe up for a couple months now so thought I would squeeze it in amongst my crazy busy summer :-)

These are so good and easy to throw together. Chickpeas are processed with garlic, chilli, ginger, spring onions, lime, soy sauce and crunchy peanut butter. I've thrown in some breadcrumbs to help bind then they are coated in sesame seeds before frying, baking OR grilling - nice and versatile!

I was initially making these as a burger but they honestly just aren't as nice in a bun. I much prefer these on their own with a good drizzle of lemon-tahini sauce. I'm thinking they would also be nice with some sort of miso gravy but I haven't gotten around to trying that yet :-)

As mentioned above you can fry these in some peanut oil until nice and crispy (ideal) but they can also be baked with no oil at all - they don't get as golden and crispy that way but still taste great. Furthermore they can be grilled without oil.

Whichever way you make them they are perfect over a bed of brown basmati rice, some veg on the side - asparagus and green beans a good choice as I did here, and a drizzle of the lemon-tahini sauce for a great meal :-)

Crispy Sesame Chickpea Cakes:

(Makes 5-6 good size cakes)

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (240g drained weight)

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger

grated zest 1 lime

75g fresh white breadcrumbs or panko (1 cup)

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter 

•

3 Tbsp sesame seeds

peanut oil, for frying - optional

Tip the chickpeas into a food processor and processor until flaky looking. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all just comes together, it should have the texture of thick peanut butter. To shape the patties I press the mixture into either a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measure then scoop it out and shape with lightly greased hands. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. You will get 5 larger patties with 1/3 cup measure and 6 smaller ones with 1/4 cup measure. 

Spread the sesame seeds onto a plate and place a patty on pressing the seeds in lightly, repeat on the other side.  

Heat a little peanut oil in a frying pan and cook the patties for 3-4 mins each side until golden and heated through. You will lose some sesame seeds but as you can see from the pictures enough stay on!

Note: can be baked for 10 minutes a side at 200C/400F or grilled until golden and crispy both sides - keep an eye on them if grilling, sesame seeds can burn fast! 

Lemon-Tahini Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp tahini

• 2 scant Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 small clove garlic, minced

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1-2 Tbsp hot water

Whisk everything together except the hot water until smooth. Add 1 Tbsp of the hot water and whisk again until smooth, add the other Tbsp if needed.

Source: Heidi Swanson's Lemon-Tahini Sauce

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 cake out of 6 (prior to frying).

Calories: 115

Protein: 5.9g

Fat: 4.4g

Sat Fat: 0.7g

Fibre: 2.8g

Carbs: 13.4g

Sugar: 1.3g

Sodium: 351mg

You Might Also Like:

Lemon-Pepper
Cashew Cutlets

Spiced Quinoa & Sweet
Potato Cakes

Zucchini Bhaji and Tarka Dal

vegan•gluten-free•soy-free•nut-free

Anyone else have a glut of zucchini in their garden right now? Yeah, thought so :-) I actually came up with this bhaji recipe last summer when we were in a similar situation and we just absolutely love these. They have great flavour and texture and best of all - they use up a LOT of zucchini! I made loads of these last summer and I suspect the same thing will happen this year. It's taken me so long to post them as I kept thinking I should blog them with something even though I usually just make these on their own to snack on, preferably with some mango chutney and a chilled beer! 

I decided they would be nice dipped into my tarka dal which is just a very basic version using common cupboard ingredients, probably not very traditional but certainly has far less fat than the versions you get in restaurants ;-) I keep my dal mild for my son but feel free to throw in some chillies, with seeds or not - up to you!

The bhaji's are good hot or cold so would be great to pack on a picnic and they are perfect with some mango chutney. They would also be good used like falafel in a wrap or a pitta with some salad and chilli sauce, lots of options! They also freeze and reheat beautifully, just defrost and lightly pan fry till warm :-)

Zucchini Bhaji

makes about 10 fritters.

500g grated zucchini (you'll need about 600g prior to grating)
1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp mild curry powder
1 fresh red chili, finely chopped, I de-seed mine, if you want them hotter leave them in.
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped 
1 large onion, diced
1 “egg”:
     1 Tbsp cornstarch
     1/8 tsp xanthan gum
     1/8 tsp gluten free baking powder
     1/8 tsp turmeric
     1 tsp peanut oil (or melted coconut oil)
     50 ml water
80ml (1/3 cup) unsweetened soy, coconut or almond milk
140g (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) Gram flour*
1½ tsp gluten free baking powder 
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

*Gram flour is also known as chickpea flour, garbanzo bean flour or besan.

Top and tail the zucchini then grate, preferably in a food processor with the grating attachment. Tip the zucchini into a colander, sprinkle generously with salt and toss well, massaging the salt into the zucchini. Don't worry about the amount of salt as it will be rinsed off, this is to draw out the water from the zucchini so you don't end up with soggy bhaji! 

Leave for 20 mins then rinse under cold water. Now take handfuls of the grated zucchini and squeeze as much water out as you can then spread out on a clean dish towel. Cover with another clean dish towel and press down getting the zucchini as dry as you can. Tip into a bowl and separate it all with a fork.

Gently fry the chilli, garlic and onion in the coconut oil with some black pepper until soft. Add the curry powder and fry gently for 1 minute more. Set aside. 

Make the "egg": In a small bowl add the cornstarch, xanthan gum, baking powder and turmeric and whisk. Mix together the water and oil in a small glass. Slowly add the liquid to the dry whisking all the while until it is all added then whisk really well until the mixture is really thick and gloopy. This takes a little while - if your arms don't hurt, you haven't whisked enough! Now start whisking in the milk a little bit at a time again whisking really well after each addition so it stays on the thick side.

In a medium bowl add the gram flour, salt and baking powder. Add the zucchini, “egg”/milk mixture and fried mixture and stir with a fork until really well blended. There should be no more flour showing and you should have a thick mixture.

Preheat the oven to 120C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Pour enough peanut oil in a medium size fry pan to cover the bottom and drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture onto the pan. Flatten slightly with a fork and fry until golden then flip and fry the other side. Repeat until all the batter is used up adding more oil if need be.

When the fritters are cooked transfer to the prepared sheet to keep them warm in the oven. I also do this to ensure the fritters get fully cooked in the middle. They will keep happily in a low temperature oven for even up to half an hour. I usually make the fritters first and keep them warming in the oven while I make the dal.

EDIT: I've since discovered that these can also be BAKED! Just line a baking sheet with baking paper and lightly grease. Preheat the oven to 200C and drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture onto the sheet. Shape and press down lightly with the spoon. Bake for 15 minutes or until fully cooked and lightly golden brown on top. They come baked really light and fluffy, like little bhaji clouds :-)

Tarka Dal:

serves 2 generously, 3 as a small side

240g (1¼ cup) dry red split lentils
250ml (1 cup) water
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp mild curry powder
1 Tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, cored and finely chopped 
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp garam masala
1 Tbsp vegan butter

Rinse lentils well, place in saucepan and cover with cold water (not the 1 cup listed in the recipe, just cover them with water). Bring to boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with hot water and place back in the pot with the measured water, turmeric and curry powder. Simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes adding more water a bit at a time if need be until the lentils are fully cooked and there is very little water left.

Meanwhile heat 1 Tbsp of coconut oil and fry the cumin seeds a few seconds. Add the onion and fry until slightly golden brown, about 10 minutes. With a few minutes left add the garlic (you can add a finely chopped chilli now if you want more heat, keep in mind this is a mild dal). Add the tomatoes and cook until they start to break down.


Stir this into the lentils along with the garam masala, salt and 1 Tbsp vegan butter. Stir until the butter melts and everything is well blended. 

♥

Nutritional Information:

For 1 Bhaji out of 10:

Calories: 103

Protein: 4.1g

Fat: 4.7g

Sat Fat: 1.2g

Fibre: 2.3g

Carbs: 11.7g

Sugar: 3.1g

Sodium: 138mg

For 1/2 of the tarka dal:

Calories: 300

Protein: 11.4g

Fat: 13.3g

Sat Fat: 7.3g

Fibre: 7.4g

Carbs: 36.6g

Sugar: 6.8g

Sodium: 904mg

Still have too much zucchini?? A couple of my favourites...

Zucchini, Lemon and Dill
Soup with Orzo

Beer Battered Zucchini Sticks
with Ranch Dip

Veggie Spring Roll Pancake Wedges with a Sesame-Tamari Dip (Gluten-Free)

We have been loving these lately! I was inspired by these Korean Veggie Pancakes or Pajun from A Spicy Perspective which just looked soooo good. The finely shredded vegetables in them though reminded me of my Veggie Spring Roll filling though so I decided to make these like spring roll pancakes, so you get all the great flavour of spring rolls in pancake form! The only thing from my spring rolls that I didn't add was the bean sprouts as I thought they would take up too much room and upset the texture. Then I added a dip with the seasonings I usually add to my spring rolls - soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

Her recipe called for egg so I thought I would just use my regular vegan pancake recipe, sans sugar, for the base but opted to try rice flour in place of plain flour as my spring rolls do have rice noodles in them. I am so glad I did as the taste and texture of these using rice flour is just perfect! Light and fluffy and the rice flavour compliments the spring roll components wonderfully. It also just happened to make these gluten free, so that was a nice bonus :-)

These are also very easy to make but please note that the size of the pan you use is absolutely crucial! These are best when they aren't too thick, I've used a 10" non-stick frying pan here which is perfect for this amount of batter, but I'm sure you could use a 12" frying pan as well. Make sure the pan has fairly low sides that slope to ease flipping.

I have also made this as an individual pancake using a smaller pan. If you want an individual serving just divide the recipe by ¼ and use a 6" frying pan but please note that having leftovers of these is not a problem at all. They both re-heat brilliantly AND even taste great cold - they would make great picnic food :-) To reheat simply pan fry until hot on both sides.

I should also note that you are looking at photos here from about 3 separate photo shoots! The first couple times I was pouring the batter into the frying pan over the veg but now I mix the veg in with the batter first. So some of the pics show more veg on top - those are the early versions. Both ways taste the same but it's easier to make and eat if you mix the veg with the batter first. (Just in case you wondering why all the wedges don't look the same!)

Veggie Spring Roll Pancake Wedges with Tamari-Sesame Dip 

Serves 4 as a light meal, 3 comfortably, 2 if you're really hungry :-)

200g organic white rice flour – 1¼ cups
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
½ tsp salt
160ml unsweetened soy milk - 2/3 cup 
180ml sparkling water - ¾ cup
1 Tbsp peanut oil
•
1 Tbsp Peanut oil
80g Chinese or Sweetheart cabbage, sliced fine
1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks – 80g
1 red pepper, sliced fine and into matchsticks – 80g
2 spring onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 red or green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Note: As long as you use a total around 200g - 250g of veggies you can use whatever quick cooking veg you like here as long as they are sliced thin. I've made this with tenderstem broccoli and green beans in place of the cabbage and red peppers for example.

1. Get all the veg chopped and ready - garlic, ginger and chili on the left there, carrots, red pepper, cabbage and spring onions on the right.
2. Make the batter: Whisk together the rice flour, baking powder and salt. Add the soy milk and sparkling water and whisk really well until smooth. Set aside.
3.Heat the peanut oil in a wok add all the veg and some freshly ground black pepper and stir fry on high heat until soft and the cabbage has wilted. This should take no longer than 4-5 minutes but make sure there is no liquid left, if the veg start to stick to the pan that's perfect.
4. Place your 10" non-stick frying pan on medium heat and brush with a little peanut oil.

 4. Now add all the veg to the batter and give it a quick stir with a fork then quickly tip it onto the preheated frying pan, spreading it out with a spatula so that it fills the pan and is nice and even.

...and let it bubble away!

5. Fry until golden brown underneath, you can peek by sliding a knife underneath to have a look but also, the pancake edges should be firm and cooked and even the whole top of the pancake should start to look fairly set. Before you move the pancake, make sure it isn't stuck at all by carefully sliding a spatula around the edges and underneath to loosen. Then shake the pan back and forth, if the pancake moves from side to side then it's ready to flip. Do NOT try and flip this if the pancake doesn't slide around in the pan!! 

Note: if you aren't too confident in flipping this you can pop it under a pre-heated grill to cook the other side. When I do this I do still fry the other side to get it crispy but since it's already cooked and firm on both sides, flipping it will be a breeze :-) Just make sure your frying pan is grill safe.

6. Slide the pancake onto a large plate and add a little more peanut oil to the frying pan. Now, put on some oven mitts and place the frying pan over the plate and flip the whole thing over - frying pan and plate so that the uncooked side is down on the frying pan. Remove the plate.

7. Fry the other side of the pancake until crisp and golden. Slide onto a chopping board and slice into wedges and serve with the tamari-sesame dip.

Now the dip is essential here. With the exception of a little salt in the batter there is no seasoning in the pancake, that's what the dip is for. My spring rolls call for soy sauce and sesame oil in the mixture so I've opted for those flavours here as well. I also threw in some sesame seeds like A Spicy Perspective did and they really add to it.

Sesame-Tamari Dip:

¼ cup soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp Sweet Freedom Syrup (vegan honey) or use light agave.
4 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds

Simply whisk all together. If you find it a little strong, feel free to add some water...I do love my soy sauce:-) I should also note that I personally prefer this taste wise with soy sauce but the difference is negligible. 

They made a great casual dinner with some chilled beer, something light and bubbly would be perfect :-)

Nutritional Information: for 1 serving out of 4, dip not included.

Calories: 255

Protein: 4.5g

Fat: 8.1g

Sat Fat: 1.2g

Fibre: 3.2g

Carbs: 40g

Sugar: 3.5g

Sodium: 129mg

You Might Also Like:

Veggie Spring Rolls

Summer Rolls with Spicy
Nut Butter Dip

♥

Lemon Pepper Cashew Cutlets

 Beautiful lemony cashew cutlets lightly fried in extra virgin olive oil.

 Before frying

Served with Smoked Paprika Roasted New Potato Wedges and Steamed Broccoli.

These are so incredibly delicious and packed with flavour they don't need any sauce whatsoever. The mild sweet cashews go so well with the tart lemon - they are seriously heavenly. Yeah, I can't believe I just called a nut cutlet that either.

If you follow the daily food diary you'll know I made these quite awhile ago. They tasted just as good then but needed a little tweaking with texture. They held together but were very crumbly and had a bit too much lemon. For these I reduced the lemon juice a little and increased the cashew butter to help binding, flavour wise it's made them even better (something I didn't think was even possible they are that good!) Furthermore it did help with the crumbling but that being said these are still quite crumbly. But then I remembered that they are nut cutlets, they are supposed to be! These are not burgers. Just take a little care when frying - be gentle with the delicate little creatures and they will repay you with deliciousness :-)

Lemon Pepper Cashew Cutlets - makes 4

100g cashews ( 3/4 cup)

65g breadcrumbs* ( 1 cup)

1 medium onion, chopped fine (85g)

1 clove garlic, pureed

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, strain out bits.

zest of 1 small lemon

2 Tbsp cashew butter

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

lots of freshly ground black pepper

more extra virgin olive oil to fry

* First, a note on the breadcrumbs as it will make a huge difference in the end product what type you are using. I keep a bag of breadcrumbs in the freezer that I buy in the bakery section of our local grocery store. They are just white natural breadcrumbs made from white bread in the bakery that's gone a little stale. You don't want to use really dry breadcrumbs here or really fresh. If you can get the bags of breadcrumbs in your bakery section use that, and of course, "check vegan" first!*

Place the cashews in a food processor and process until finely chopped OR just chop them up with a knife, this is just easier. You'll want them fairly small but take care not to over process them, you want crunch here.

Tip this into a large non-stick frying pan and gently fry the nuts until fragrant and lightly golden brown:

Transfer these to a large bowl and wipe the frying pan clean. Add the olive oil and bring to the heat then add the finely chopped onion and about 40 grinds of black pepper and gently fry until the onion is very soft and translucent. Add the garlic and fry gently, stirring well for about 30 seconds, take care not to burn the garlic. 

Scrape all of this into the bowl with the nuts and add the breadcrumbs, salt, lemon juice, zest and cashew butter. Mix really well with a fork until it's all mixed up well - make sure the cashew butter is incorporated. It will be crumbly now and look like stuffing but don't worry, you can make cutlets out of this!

Spoon this mixture into a 1/3 cup measure, pressing down with each spoonful so it's well packed in. Tap and shake the contents out into your hand then squeeze and squish the mixture in your hands like you are making a snowball, you can be hard with it so don't worry! When it holds together place it on a sheet of baking paper and further flatten and shape it into a little cake. Repeat with the rest of the mixture and it should look like this:

I tend to make these earlier than when I want them and at this point wrap them up individually in cling film and refrigerate them. Then they simply need frying up when you need them - simple!

To cook, heat up a good amount of olive oil in a large frying pan - you want it to cover the whole surface but you are not shallow frying either. I used 1 - 2 tablespoons for my medium size frying pan. Gently place them in the hot oil and turn the heat to low, fry until golden brown on one side then carefully (!) flip them over and fry the other side.

Like I mentioned above these are so packed with flavour they really do not need any sauce and we loved them with these smoked paprika new potato wedges - a lovely combination and perfect with some broccoli.

Smoked Paprika Roasted New Potato Wedges:

about 350g new potatoes, longish ones are best here.

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Wash and dry the potatoes then slice them lengthwise into quarters. Place in a bowl and add the olive oil, salt and paprika. Get in there with your hands and toss it really well so everything is coated evenly. 

Place on the baking sheet and roast for 1/2 hour and flip them once half way through. This serves the 3 of us as a side dish but they are so good you may want to double this!!

Oh, and I know I keep showing these plated up with 2 cutlets but that's a lie - we only had 1 each, delicious as they are they are quite calorie dense and very filling! It's just that my plates are bloody huge and one looked so sad on its own :-(

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 cutlet out of 4 before frying...

Calories: 287

Protein: 8.2g

Fat: 19.2g

Sat Fat: 3.4g

Fibre: 2g

Carbs: 23.6g

Sugar: 3.5g

Sodium: 260mm